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Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World

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Re: Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World

#21

Post by Nomentatus »

drieddust wrote: post #15

Hinduism have a rich tradition of rejecting the personal god [1]. Some schools completely reject the creator god while others take agnostic position. Four Vedas are considered oldest Hindu scriptures. Among the four, Rig Veda which is considered the highest and oldest casts doubts on god's abilities in its creation hymns.[2] > The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into b…

More than this, there was an era of outright materialism in ancient Indian philosophy; but it was so thoroughly repressed we know little about it.

Re: Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World

#23

Post by tpeo »

empath75 wrote: post #19

Platonism and Christianity both could reasonably be seen as atheistic from the perspective of classical antiquity, in that their view of what god was, was radically different from mainstream religious practice. In Platonism, especially, the One was very abstract and impersonal.

Sort of.

Christianity is a mixed bag. Popular christian imagination is still filled with miracles and supernatural beings acting on human life. On the other hand, many christians don't hold such views and have a much more deflationary account of divinity. But when I think of early christianity, I think of visions of angels, and curse tablets.

Nothing is known for sure what Plato really thought, specially when it comes to his unwritten doctrines. But his dialogues often put a strong emphasis on piety, and he also makes references to magical practice (think Charmides' charm). He's also been heaped by ancient interpreters with groups strongly associated with mystic practices, namely the Pythagoreans and the Eleatics. Neoplatonists, on the other hand, were associated with Julian I's attempt at revitalizing traditional roman religion and with ritual magic (i.e. theurgy), despite their adherence to the idea of a highly impersonal deity.

None of these guys (Christians, Neoplatonists) were quite free from the traditional practices of their times.

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